John Nothdurft and Donny Kendal present episode #113 of the In The Tank Podcast. Today’s podcast features work from the Cato Institute, the Illinois Policy Institute, the Washington Policy Center and the Reason Foundation.

Jesse Hathaway talks with Sheila Weinberg, the founder and CEO of Truth in Accounting (TIA), about a new annual report published by the watchdog group tracking and ranking the financial outlook of all 50 states.

On May 12 and 13, Chicago received a series of downgrades in its credit ratings for the city itself, the Chicago Board of Education (CBE), and the Chicago Park District. The downgrades began Moody’s Investors Service’s (MIS) decision to lower Chicago’s credit rating two notches to the noninvestment-grade “Ba1” level with a negative outlook. The embarrassment continued the next day when the CBE and Chicago Park District ratings dropped three notches to junk levels.

Illinois may have only one opportunity to get pension reform right, and this proposal is not it. More than likely, this proposal will set back the true fundamental pension reform that is required to protect taxpayers from further tax hikes, give public employees more job flexibility, and put Illinois on a sustainable fiscal path.